Author: Dan Kaminsky

Most commercial buildings with a Building Automation System (BAS) are automated in theory.

But are they still automated in practice?

A BAS may be online. Operators may be able to see temperatures and equipment status. Alarms may be coming in. Equipment may be starting every morning.

That does not necessarily mean the building is operating automatically—or efficiently.

Over time, buildings change. Occupancy changes. Equipment is replaced. Schedules are adjusted. Service technicians create overrides. Sensors fail. Control sequences are modified. Temporary fixes sometimes become permanent.

Little by little, the way a building actually operates can drift away from the way it was intended to operate.

For owners and facility teams concerned about utility spend, that leads to an important question:

Is your BAS actually automating your building, or has your team gradually become the automation?

Start With the Basics: Does the Building Shut Down?

One of the simplest ways to waste energy is to operate equipment when the building does not need it.

That sounds obvious, but it is worth verifying.

Operating schedules established years ago may no longer match how a facility is used today. Temporary changes may never have been changed back. Holiday schedules may be outdated. Pumps, exhaust fans, air-handling units, or other equipment may remain enabled long after occupants leave.

A BAS should help match building operation to actual need.

• Occupied and unoccupied schedules
• Start and stop times
• Holiday schedules
• After-hours operation
• Equipment that remains enabled overnight
• Optimum start and stop strategies where appropriate
• HVAC and lighting schedules where systems are integrated

The question is not whether a schedule exists on the BAS screen.

The question is whether the building is actually following it.

What Is in Override?

Overrides are a normal part of operating a building.

A technician may override a valve, damper, fan, setpoint, or piece of equipment while troubleshooting a problem. An operator may temporarily change a schedule to accommodate an event or occupant request.

The problem occurs when temporary becomes permanent.

Months later, the original issue may be forgotten, but the override remains.

That can result in equipment running longer than necessary, reset strategies being bypassed, valves or dampers remaining in fixed positions, or systems no longer responding automatically to changing building conditions.

An Energy Performance review should ask:

• What is currently in override?
• How long has it been overridden?
• Why was the override originally made?
• Is the underlying problem still present?
• Can automatic operation be restored?

A BAS cannot optimize a building if significant portions of the system are permanently being operated manually.

Is the Equipment Actually Doing What the BAS Is Telling It to Do?

This is where looking only at the BAS screen can be misleading.

The BAS may command a damper open, but did it actually open?

It may command a control valve closed, but is heating or chilled water still flowing?

It may reduce fan speed, but is the Variable Frequency Drive responding correctly?

A sensor may display a temperature, pressure, or humidity value, but is that value accurate?

Good Energy Performance requires verifying both sides of the equation:

What is the BAS commanding, and what is actually happening in the building?

• Valves and dampers
• Actuators
• Sensors
• Variable Frequency Drives
• Equipment safeties and interlocks
• Airflow and waterflow
• Heating and cooling operation
• Equipment staging
• Feedback points and equipment status

A sophisticated control sequence cannot overcome a failed damper, inaccurate sensor, leaking valve, or equipment that does not respond properly.

Are the Sequences Still Optimizing the Building?

A BAS should do more than turn equipment on and off.

Good controls should adjust building operation as conditions change.

Depending on the facility and equipment, that may include strategies such as:

• Supply-air-temperature reset
• Static-pressure reset
• Chilled-water and hot-water reset
• Boiler and chiller staging
• Pump sequencing
• Economizer control
• Demand-based ventilation
• Appropriate heating and cooling deadbands
• Reduction of unnecessary simultaneous heating and cooling

The basic concept is simple:

Do not operate equipment harder than necessary to meet the building’s actual needs.

Older BAS systems may never have included these strategies. In other buildings, they may have been programmed originally but disabled or modified over time.

Energy Performance is not just about having sophisticated sequences available. It is about making sure they are actually being used and are still appropriate for the building.

Recommissioning and TAB Can Be Part of the Answer

When building operation has drifted, correcting programming alone may not be enough.

Recommissioning can help verify that equipment, controls, and sequences are operating together as intended.

Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing (TAB) may also be needed when airflow or hydronic performance is preventing the control system from achieving the intended results.

For example, a BAS can reset duct static pressure based on demand, but the strategy will not produce the intended result if airflow is badly out of balance.

The same applies to heating and cooling water systems.

The BAS provides the control and visibility. Recommissioning, TAB, and field verification help ensure the building actually responds the way the BAS expects it to.

What Ongoing BAS Service Support Should Include

Correcting Energy Performance once is useful.

Keeping the BAS performing over time is more valuable.

A BAS does not remain healthy automatically. Controllers age. Sensors drift. Network conditions change. Devices lose communication. Overrides accumulate. Equipment is replaced. Building use continues to evolve.

Ongoing BAS service support should include more than responding when something breaks.

It should periodically review:

• Whether controllers and devices are communicating reliably
• Whether BAS network communication is stable
• Whether important controllers or points are offline
• Whether sensors and critical points are reporting reasonable values
• Whether equipment is actually responding to BAS commands
• Whether operating schedules still match current building use
• Whether overrides are being reviewed and removed when appropriate
• Whether recurring alarms are being investigated instead of simply acknowledged
• Whether control sequences and reset strategies continue to operate as intended
• Whether current system backups and databases are available
• Whether building or equipment changes have created new control issues

The objective is not simply to confirm that the BAS is online.

The objective is to confirm that the BAS is healthy and still operating the building the way it is supposed to.

Use the Data to Find What Changed

One of the most valuable things a BAS can provide is information about how the building is operating over time.

Trends, runtime information, alarms, metering, and Energy Dashboards can help facility teams identify:

• Equipment running outside normal hours
• Unexpected peaks in energy use
• Systems that are not responding to load
• Changes in equipment runtime
• Repeated Comfort problems
• Abnormal operating conditions
• Opportunities to improve sequences or scheduling

But data alone does not improve a building.

The value comes from using the information to identify an issue, correct it, and then confirm that the change produced the intended result.

A useful Building Performance cycle is:

Identify → Correct → Recommission → Measure Again

Better Energy Performance Starts With Better Building Operation

Reducing utility spend does not always require starting with a major capital project.

Sometimes the first opportunity is making sure the BAS and the equipment you already own are doing what they were designed to do.

Ask:

• Is the building shutting down when it should?
• What is currently in override?
• Is equipment responding to BAS commands?
• Are sensors and control points reliable?
• Are the sequences actually optimizing operation?
• Are controllers and devices communicating reliably?
• Has anyone recently looked at how the entire building is operating—not just whether the BAS is online?

A Building Automation System should do more than display what is happening.

It should actively help the building operate better.

And when it does, better Energy Performance, improved Comfort, greater Reliability, and lower operating costs can follow.

Ready to Take a Closer Look?

A Building Performance Assessment can help identify BAS and operational issues that may be affecting Energy Performance and utility spend.

Building Performance Assessment

Have a specific BAS or Building Performance question?

Talk to a BAS Expert

Learn more about ColonialWebb building services.

A building automation system (BAS) should do more than start and stop equipment; it should improve building performance.

That distinction matters.

A BAS should do more than start and stop equipment. It should help your facility team reduce energy and operating costs, maintain occupant comfort, improve reliability, understand what is happening in the building, and make better decisions about what needs attention next.

For owners of existing buildings, that becomes increasingly important as equipment ages, operating schedules change, spaces are used differently, and multiple generations of controls accumulate.

The better question is not simply: “Is my BAS working?”

It is: “Is my BAS helping my building perform?”

ENERGY IS A GOOD PLACE TO START

Energy costs are receiving more attention for good reason. A BAS can influence a significant portion of a building’s energy use because it determines when equipment operates and how systems respond to changing conditions.

Some of the biggest opportunities are often fairly basic:

• Equipment operating outside occupied hours
• Schedules that no longer match how the building is used
• Heating and cooling setpoints that have drifted over time
• Simultaneous heating and cooling
• Equipment staging that is not working efficiently
• Static-pressure or supply-air-temperature settings that remain fixed when they could reset
• Overrides that were intended to be temporary but never removed

None of these require futuristic technology to matter. They require a BAS that is properly programmed, maintained, and reviewed as the building changes.

Modern BAS platforms can also provide trends and energy dashboards that give owners better visibility into consumption, peak-use periods, and operating patterns.

A BAS does not save energy simply because it is installed. Energy performance comes from how the building, equipment, sequences, controls, and people work together.

COMFORT STILL MATTERS

Reducing energy use is not a successful strategy if the result is an uncomfortable building.

Recurring hot and cold calls are often signs that something is not operating as intended. The cause may be controls, airflow, mechanical equipment, failed sensors, incorrect setpoints, or a combination of several issues.

A useful BAS should help the facility team answer questions such as:

• Which areas consistently struggle to maintain temperature?
• Are dampers and valves responding correctly?
• Is equipment operating when it should?
• Are setpoints or schedules being overridden?
• Are different systems working together—or fighting each other?

Comfort is one of the most visible measures of building performance. If occupants are consistently uncomfortable, the BAS should help identify why.

RELIABILITY MEANS MORE THAN RESPONDING TO ALARMS

Many BAS systems are very good at telling someone that a problem has already occurred. The bigger opportunity is using BAS information to reduce how often the facility team is forced into reactive mode.

That can include reviewing repeated alarms, communication failures, disabled points or programs, excessive equipment runtimes, recurring overrides, abnormal operating patterns, and systems requiring frequent manual intervention.

If the facilities team spends most of its time reacting to the building, that is worth examining.

GOOD BAS INFORMATION SHOULD LEAD TO BETTER DECISIONS

Facility teams do not need more data simply because a BAS can produce it. They need information that helps answer practical questions:

• Why did energy use increase?
• Why is this area uncomfortable?
• Why is this equipment running?
• Is the issue controls-related or mechanical?
• Did the change we made actually improve performance?
• Which problem should we address first?
• What should be included in the next capital budget?

A BAS with thousands of points but little useful insight can still leave a facility team operating largely in the dark. Good building performance turns BAS information into better operational decisions.

AN AGING BAS DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY NEED TO BE REPLACED

Existing buildings often contain controls installed over many years. It is common to find several generations of controllers, different manufacturers, obsolete equipment, proprietary platforms, or systems that have been modified repeatedly as the building has changed.

That does not necessarily mean everything should be replaced at once.

A practical BAS strategy should determine:

• What is still working well
• What can remain
• What is creating operational risk
• What can be integrated
• What should be modernized
• What requires immediate attention
• What can be addressed over several budget cycles

For many owners, a phased plan can align BAS improvements with planned HVAC replacements, capital budgets, and available utility incentives.

YOUR BAS SHOULD CONTINUE CREATING VALUE AFTER INSTALLATION

Another useful test is what happens after the BAS project is complete. Does the system simply get turned over to the owner, or is there a plan to keep it supported, current, and useful?

A connected BAS can support remote troubleshooting, faster diagnostics, software sustainment, system reviews, and better long-term service.

Over time, this changes the role of the BAS. Instead of receiving attention only when something fails, it becomes a tool for continually improving how the building operates.

SO, IS YOUR BAS HELPING?

A BAS that is truly helping your building should contribute to:

• Lower energy and operating costs
• Better comfort
• Greater reliability
• Better operational visibility
• Fewer avoidable disruptions
• Smarter modernization decisions
• Better long-term supportability

If you are not getting those outcomes, the answer is not necessarily to replace the entire BAS. The first step is understanding what you have, how it is operating today, and where the best opportunities for improvement exist.

READY TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK?

Start with a Building Performance Assessment. ColonialWebb can help identify the issues affecting your building, understand what your BAS is—and is not—doing for you, and determine practical next steps.

Building Performance Assessment

Have a specific BAS question? Talk to a BAS Expert

Learn more about ColonialWebb building services.